Bizarre ‘Armor’ Fish Caught In South China Sea Remains Unidentified

A bizarre fish caught in the South China Sea has at least one angler wondering what it is.

Sapar Mansor, 43, from Taman Ceria, Permyjaya, in Malaysia, caught the spiky fish off the coast of Tudan. Mansor said he and his friend went fishing around 5 a.m. and about an hour later reeled in the strange catch, the Borneo Post reports.

“This is the first time in my life that I have seen this type of fish. I brought it home to my wife and informed her of the rare catch,” he said.

The fish is more than one foot long, has a large head with a tail that tapers off and has tusk-like spikes near its mouth. It is covered with sharp spines on the top and bottom of its body. Mansor’s wife and children nicknamed it “Armor Fish” after its telltale spikes.

Mansor and his wife decided to keep the fish, and plan to dry it to preserve it.

“When my husband brought the fish home, both my children were stunned because of its shape and uniqueness,” Siti Kadariah, Masnor’s wife, said. “It is God’s gift, and I and my family will keep the fish.”

The Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation Division of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) plans to find out what kind of fish it is. “SFC has not been able to established what kind of fish it is but is in the process of checking with relevant authorities,” Oswald Braken Tisen, SFC deputy general manager, told the DailyMail.

This isn’t the first unusual fish to make headlines this week.

In Illinois, a fisherman caught a piranha-like pacu in the waters of Cedar Lake.

“I noticed the fish and even from a distance, it looks like a piranha,” Jim DePersia told CBS Chicago about the bizarre catch. “As I came up and looked at it, I thought I knew my fish and this is a huge monster.”

Initially it was believed to be a testicle-eating piranha, but experts from Shedd Aquarium in Chicago confirmed the fish was a pacu.